In June 2019 the project Corpus der hethitischen Festrituale (HFR) invited renowned
international scholars to a symposium discussing recent developments in ancient Near Eastern
studies regarding the interpretation of philological and archaeological sources from Anatolia
and adjacent areas in the 2nd mill. BCE. The symposium focused on questions concerning the
archaeology of temples and other sacred places differentiation of sacred spaces according to
written sources the organization of festivals with a focus on spatial aspects participation
in festivals and possibilities of interpretation thanks to insights into the cult practices of
areas such as Northern Syria the Levant Mesopotamia or Egypt.While the geographic focus of
the symposium proceedings is on Hittite Anatolia the first section includes studies examining
rituals and their temple contexts in Egypt the Levant Assyria and Babylonia providing
comparative insights for understanding the Hittite festivals. An archaeological section offers
new analyses of existing temple finds as well as a presentation of recent discoveries of sacred
architecture including inventories and sealings in both Anatolia and the Levant. The
remainder of the volume consists primarily of Hittitological philological studies of sacred
space analyzing the significance of various places such as rivers loci numinosi roofs the
movement from one place to another within ritual practices special terminology and
characteristics of various festivals particularities of cults of several cities and regions
the economic aspects of Hittite festivals and their ideological background in Hittite kingship
and the king's connection to festivals.
